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Monday, May 2, 2011

The Race

In sports you have to believe in something before you will ever see it become reality. In sports you have to discipline yourself, training hard for hours, day in and day out for years to even attempt to accomplish a daring feat. In sports you have to keep your eye on the prize because it's the motivation to keep you persevering through trials and tribulations. In sports you have to have your head in the game every day at every practice so you continue to build on what you have learned before, so your limits become stretched and your ability grows beyond them. On the biggest stages in sports, desire, determination and perseverance will always win over talent alone. In sports, champions are often made after many failed attempts- that means they got back up again after a defeat. In sports, becoming a champion doesn't happen by standing on the top of the podium. You become a champion during the pursuit.

Life is really no different. The biggest problem in life is we have our eyes focused on the wrong prize. We're usually in pursuit of things we think are worth while like gold medals, diplomas, money, fame... the list goes on. While none of those things are bad things, they are all only temporary. Gold medals represent quite an accomplishment, but they will always tarnish and the ribbon will eventually begin to unravel. Diplomas show you have put a lot of time into studying, but not living. Money can solve many issues, but it also leads to unnecessary spending and distraction from what is truly important. While sometimes people can use fame to help bring awareness to certain wonderful things, fame in and of itself is basically idol worship. While there are truly wonderful people in the world, we are people and we all fall short of perfection. We will all stumble and mess up at times; people were not made to be worshipped but to worship.

There is only One who will never fail us or change or forsake us. There is only One worthy of our worship and praise. There is only One who can teach us how to truly live. And there is only One who can actually save us from ourselves and our final destination. He is not temporary or a fading icon. He is Jesus- the One who conquered death to save us. He is the One we run the race for. Life eternal with Jesus is the ultimate prize. That is where our focus in life needs to be so we run the race of life with desire and passion because we know Who we're running for and why we're running.

Now watch the race below with this in mind. This is not just any race, but one where a girl in a very important race with a team depending on her falls flat on her face in front of her own home crowd. But it's what happens after that we need to pay attention to. This video is not about the race. It's about Who the race is being run for. Let us run like this everyday in our lives for Christ.